"Looks like you've passed through your crisis," Jonas said. "You're in perfect shape again."
The scientists all looked crushed but their mood changed to annoyance when they saw Cramer's enthusiastic grin. "Don't you see?" he said. "If this happened to me, it should be happening to Hartley too. He got his first sniff only a little while after I did, so the incubation period's the same for him!"
"Unless the large amount he's taken in since then actually confers immunity," Phillips muttered.
Cramer's face fell but he persisted. "We have to find out one way or the other, don't we?"
"No doubt about that!" Phillips called Chisholm's office and explained what had happened.
"Then the operation's on," the General told him, happy to be acting at last. "Hartley's at Neilson's place and we have to get him. Bring along all the test equipment you'll need."
When they broke into the vast penthouse apartment they found nobody around. As they went through one empty chamber after another, they became increasingly nervous. "The building's been thoroughly staked out," Chisholm fumed. "We know he hasn't left this floor."
Then, in the last chamber, they found him. He was lying on a silken couch, breathing heavily, and when they came closer they saw that all visible parts of his body were covered with angry splotches.
"Get the cameras going," barked the General.